Captain Newman, M.D.

1963 film by David Miller

Captain Newman, M.D.

Theatrical poster

Directed by| David Miller
Written by| Richard L. Breen
Henry Ephron
Phoebe Ephron
Produced by| Robert Arthur
Starring| Gregory Peck
Tony Curtis
Angie Dickinson
Eddie Albert
James Gregory
Bethel Leslie
Robert Duvall
Dick Sargent
Larry Storch
Bobby Darin
Cinematography| Russell Metty
Edited by| Alma Macrorie
Music by| Frank Skinner

Production
companies

Brentwood Productions
Reynard Productions

Distributed by| Universal Pictures

Release date

* December 23, 1963 (1963-12-23)

Running time

| 126 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Box office| $4.25 million (rentals)[1]

Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 American comedy drama film directed by David Miller and starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. Peck's Brentwood Production also co-produced the film.[2]

The film is based on the 1961 novel by Leo Rosten. It was loosely based on the World War II experiences of Rosten's close friend Ralph Greenson, M.D., while Greenson was a captain in the Army Medical Corps supporting the U.S. Army Air Forces and stationed at Yuma Army Airfield in Yuma, Arizona. Greenson is well known for his work on "empathy" and was one of the first in his field to seriously associate posttraumatic stress disorder (years before that terminology was developed) with wartime experiences. He was a director of the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and was a practicing Freudian. Greenson is perhaps best known for his patients, who included Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Vivien Leigh.

Major filming took place at the U.S. Army's Fort Huachuca complex in southern Arizona, with the co-located Libby Army Airfield used to portray the fictional Colfax Army Air Field.

The story was used as a 1972 television pilot of the same title produced by Danny Thomas Productions starring Jim Hutton in the title role and Joan Van Ark as Lt Corum.[3]

## Plot[edit]

In 1944, Captain Josiah Newman is head of the neuro-psychiatric Ward 7 at the Colfax Army Air Field (AAF) military hospital, located in the Arizona desert. As he explains to a visiting VIP who wanders in: "We're short of beds, doctors, orderlies, nurses, everything ... except patients." He will use unconventional tactics to treat his patients and to recruit much needed personnel, as when he hijacks a new and very reluctant orderly, Corporal Jackson Leibowitz, a wheeler-dealer from New Jersey. Leibowitz promptly has the entire ward participating in a sing-along of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."

Newman also takes great pains to court nurse Lieutenant Francie Corum on what she thinks is a date... until he asks her to transfer to Ward 7. Their 'date/fight' is cut short by a phone call: Colonel Bliss has forced his way into Ward 7 looking for Dr. Newman with a 6-inch knife, because Newman blocked his return to active duty after witnessing Bliss' erratic behavior. After watching Newman's handling of this situation and other patients on the ward, Corum transfers in.

Newman treats shell-shocked, schizophrenic and catatonic patients, facing an especial challenge from the traumatized Corporal Jim Tompkins, an Eighth Air Force air gunner whose mind has been shattered by his war experiences. Newman is bedeviled by Colfax AAF's "old-school" base commander, Colonel Pyser, who ultimately saddles him with a complement of injured Italian POWs because his is the only secure ward in the hospital. In addition, a flock of constantly straying sheep (kept for the medical lab) that find their way to the airfield and a set of feuding orderlies keeps life interesting right up to Christmas 1944.

## Cast[edit]

* Gregory Peck as Capt. Josiah J. Newman, M.D., MC, USAR
* Tony Curtis as Cpl. Jackson 'Jake' Leibowitz, USAAF, de facto boss of the orderlies
* Angie Dickinson as 1st Lt. Francie Corum, NC, USAR
* Eddie Albert as Col. Norval Algate Bliss, USAAF
* Bobby Darin as Cpl. Jim Tompkins, USAAF
* Robert Duvall as Capt. Paul Cabots Winston
* Bethel Leslie as Mrs Helene Winston
* James Gregory as Col. Edgar Pyser, USAAF
* Dick Sargent as Lt. Belden 'Barney' Alderson
* Larry Storch as Cpl. Gavoni
* Jane Withers as 1st Lt. Grace Blodgett
* Vito Scotti as Maj. Alfredo Fortuno, Italian POW Senior Officer
* Gregory Walcott as Capt. Howard
* Robert F. Simon as Col. M. B. Larrabee
* Paul Carr as Arthur Werbel
* Charlie Briggs as Gorkow
* Barry Atwater as Major Dawes

## Awards and nominations[edit]

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.[4]

* Best Supporting Actor (nomination) – Bobby Darin
* Best Sound – Waldon O. Watson
* Writing (Screenplay – based on material from another medium) — Richard L. Breen, Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron

## 1972 TV pilot[edit]

An attempt was made to turn the film into a TV sitcom by Thomas-Crenna Productions, the company of Danny Thomas and Richard Crenna. A pilot was shot in 1972, written by Frank Tarloff. It aired on ABC on August 19, 1972 as part of its unsold pilot anthology, ABC Comedy Showcase.[5][6] The Los Angeles Times said "it was easy to see why it was never sold."[7]

### Cast[edit]

* Jim Hutton as Captain Newman
* Joan Van Ark as Lt Francie Corwin
* Bill Fiore as Captain Norval Bliss

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1963

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1964", Variety, 6 January 1965 p 39. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
2. ^ p.239 Fishgall, Gary Gregory Peck: A Biography Simon and Schuster, 2002
3. ^ p.650 Terrace, Vincent Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937–2012 McFarland, 26 Feb. 2013
4. ^ "The 36th Academy Awards (1964) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
5. ^ Captain Newman, M.D. at IMDb
6. ^ Goldberg, Lee (2015). The Best TV Shows That Never Were: 300 Memorable Unsold Pilots. ISBN 9781511590747.
7. ^ Smith, C. (Sep 4, 1972). "Crenna takes film route in TV return". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 156983594.

## External links[edit]

* Captain Newman, M.D. at IMDb
* Captain Newman, M.D. at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by David Miller

* Penny Wisdom (1937)
* The Great Heart (1938)
* Drunk Driving (1939)
* More About Nostradamus (1941)
* Billy the Kid (1941)
* Sunday Punch (1942)
* Flying Tigers (1942)
* Top o' the Morning (1949)
* Love Happy (1949)
* Our Very Own (1950)
* Saturday's Hero (1951)
* Sudden Fear (1952)
* Twist of Fate (1954)
* Diane (1956)
* The Opposite Sex (1956)
* The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
* Happy Anniversary (1959)
* Midnight Lace (1960)
* Back Street (1961)
* Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
* Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
* Hammerhead (1968)
* Hail, Hero! (1969)
* Executive Action (1973)
* Bittersweet Love (1976)
* The Best Place to Be (1979)

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